Latest

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Survey Reveals Job Happiness Related to 5 Effectiveness Skills

New York — July 10MindTools.com, a career skills site, recently surveyed more than 10,000 people from 139 countries on a wide range of workplace topics. Among the findings of interest to both employees and employers is the fact that employees who have confidence in five key personal effectiveness skills areas are happiest at work.

Mind Tools CEO James Manktelow said, "This confirms our long-term belief at Mind Tools: People who invest in learning these skills really do get the most job satisfaction. Furthermore, these are skills that can be learned outside of the traditional classroom and, in fact, can be learned free of charge on the MindTools.com site."

The survey compared 5,878 people who were happy at work with 1,177 who were not. Of these, the greatest skills differences were in these five areas. According to the Mind Tools Survey, 86.9 percent of happy employees were confident in their team-working skills, 85.2 percent in their communication skills and more than 78 percent expressed confidence in both their leadership and team management skills.

While 66.3 percent of people happy in their job reported being confident in their stress management skills, only 42.4 percent of people who were not happy reported this level of confidence.

"People who communicate well and work well within teams are clearly going to have happier and more harmonious relationships with the people around them," said Manktelow. "What also appears to happen isthat people with good leadership and management skills are happier, presumably because their teams are happier and more successful. What's more, given that stress is a major cause of unhappiness, it makes sense that good stress-management skills are strongly associated with job satisfaction."

"These survey findings are not only good news for employees, but they are also good news for company owners," Manktelow continued. "Happiness is a huge factor in employee retention. In these tighter economic times, CEOs should note that these happiness factors are independent of employee salary or benefits."